Things are livening up a little on the lesfic front as people mosey on back from the beaches, pack away their sun cream, and hunker down to wait for autumn – fireworks, golden leaves, parkin, treacle toffee, trick or treatin’, what’s not to love?!

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It’s been an exciting week for Jody Klaire with the release of her romantic comedy La Vie en Bleu, and the cover reveal for the third instalment of her Above & Beyond series – Untrained Eye. If you like a little music to go along with your reading, Jody has posted a rather…eclectic (let’s just say that there’s a few Spice Girl’s tracks on it!) play list for La Vie en Bleuhere. Meanwhile, the blurb for Untrained Eye reads like this:

When Aeron’s burdens are dimmed to help her recover and understand that she can’t heal everyone, she welcomes her new found freedom. Her only worry is that Renee will feel guilt for the price she’s paid and so Aeron resolves not to tell anyone. When CIG boss Ursula Frei comes to her for help with a personal mission, things start to get tricky. Frei enlists Aeron’s help to prevent a group of children in Caprock Academy becoming victim to the same deep scars Frei herself bears. She needs the help of the Criminal Investigation Team but that can’t happen without Lilia or Aeron. So Aeron fakes a vision.

In that vision, Aeron, Renee and Frei go undercover to Caprock, rescue the children and walk away stronger.Unknown to Aeron, Lilia has had the same vision and allows the CIG team to get involved. The problem is that the two visions differ in one essential part. Whereas Aeron’s version sees them successful and united, in Lilia’s vision, she’s seen the three agents implode under the weight of secrets, misunderstandings and their mission unravel.

Lilia has faith in Aeron, Frei and Renee and believes they can get the children out…even if it means one of them gets left behind.

That Certain Something is an adorable chick-lit romance about two people from totally different backgrounds finding one another, and connecting on a such a deep level that they click right from the start. The main protagonists, along with the secondary characters shine in this feel good romantic comedy.

So, fire up the nearest defib and grab yourself a copy 🙂

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Lastly on the light and luscious lady lovin’ front, is this review from The Lesbian Review for Clare Lydon‘s This London Love:

The writing style embodies what I love about British books, it’s tight, clean and witty. And while the book follows a pretty standard romantic comedy plot, it manages to not be formulaic…I loved that Meg was not perfect, and while Kate pretty much falls in love with her at first sight, Lydon never lets her be on a pedestal. The friction between Meg and Kate mirrors the hurdles that real life relationships go through, and it shows that happy endings can happen to real people, and that they are not possible without some work along the way.

Read the full piece at the link.

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With The Renegade due for release next month, Amy Dunne has been blogging about her writing processes over at the Bold Strokes site:

Scenes play in my head like a movie clip. While I’m typing away on the keyboard and words appear on the screen, I’m actually writing what I’m seeing in my mind’s eye. Almost like I’m experiencing everything with the characters. I’ve always had an overactive imagination and I enjoy daydreaming these scenes. I can vividly imagine seeing, smelling, hearing, and touching things in each scene.

Hopping north of the border now where Val McDermid recently met one of her most famous fans – Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon – at the Edinburgh festival. The interview is available to watch on the BBC’s iPlayer for the next 28 days.

Also this last week, in a frank and revealing interview with the Guardian, Val has been chatting about misogynistic trolls, our current government taking the UK back to Victorian times, and Scotland’s future:

I really worry we are heading more towards the Victorian ethic where those who have the capacity to claw their way to the top will do, and the rest will be sweeping the shit out of the doorway. We’re going back to Bleak House – it doesn’t feel like we’re moving forward at all.

Read the full piece at the link.

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Six weeks holiday hasn’t been nearly enough for L.T. Smith, who’s been getting an entertaining whinge on in a new blog about her absolute reluctance to get back into the classroom (get back in there! I’ll finally be able to go swimming again once the kids are out of the pool!) Hidden amongst the highly amusing grumbles are nuggets of information about forthcoming books and short stories:

But I have been writing. Two short stories are finished but not edited. Attic Space is a ghost story that I originally penned for the Ylva anthology but she came out too big. I’m undecided what to do with her, but she will get my attention again before long. One thing I need to say though is that Attic Space did not have one single F word throughout. Not one! It was a challenge I set myself and through her I realised how hard it was for me to write without being a potty mouth. But, I did it. Go me. F**k yeah!

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Finally this fortnight, for anyone who’s harbouring a secret stash of period photos, there’s a new competition on Sarah Waters‘ website that’s right up your street. She’s looking for pictures from London in the 1920s to match scenes in The Paying Guests, and a complete set of her novels is up for grabs for the best entrant. Go here for more details.

It’s rather quiet in UKLesFic land this week, with every other bugger on holiday, so here’s a mini news bulletin:

If you’ve read all your holiday novels and want a taster of some forthcoming delights, then look no further than these free samples and a short story.

The Renegade by Amy Dunne is a post-apocalyptic story set in a camp run by a dangerous cult where the women are slaves – a slight change in genre from her Christmas romance Season’s Meetings. The book will be published in September but you can have a nose at the first three chapters here.

Jody Klaire is another flirting with a different genre – a rom-com this time with La Vie en Bleu. You can have a shufti at the first chapter on Jody’s blog here.

And if you fancy sitting back and having a short story read to you, then the audio version of Clare Lydon‘s short story Once Upon a Caravan (published in the L is For anthology) is available on her website here.

If your holiday reading didn’t yet include Kiki Archer‘s Too Late…I love You, then here are a couple more reviews that may sway you:

She Magazine from the US says “Too Late…I Love You is the queer answer to rom-com classics like Notting Hill, only with more toddlers. This one is sexy, fun, and adorable, with a twist that’s truly clever. Pick it up before the summer’s over.” And lesfic blog The Lesbrary has a longer review which ends “this book is hilarious. The dialogue and the goofy physical comedy shine. I cared about the characters and had a great time reading about them. I highly recommend this to fans of lesbian romance and anyone looking for fun light reading.” You can read The Lesbrary review in full here.

Jen Silver is back in the UK after her jaunt to the GCLS conference and she has a few pictures on her blog. She also continues her series of posts about her characters from Arc Over Time and Starting Over.

And finally, the Manchester Literary Festival provides an excellent opportunity to catch some of the big lesfic names this year with appearances from Val McDermid, Carol Ann Duffy and Jeanette Winterson. Events are spread throughout October and you can find the full list here.